Gamehelpkiln

Goal

KILN is an abstract strategy game for 2–4 players designed by Néstor Romeral Andrés. Slide ceramic tiles through a central 6×6 kiln, replicate matching colour polyomino shapes into your private 5×5 warehouse, and sell full rows or columns to reach the winning score threshold first (default: 14 victory points).

Components

Component	Icon	Description
Coloured Tiles		36 ceramic tiles in 4 player colours (9 Red, 9 Blue, 9 Green, 9 Yellow) inside the 6×6 kiln.
Neutral Black Tile		1 neutral black tile that starts on an outer perimeter arrow and grants an extra turn when pushed out of the kiln.
Kiln Board (6×6)		Central sliding board holding 36 tiles with 24 push arrows around its perimeter.
Warehouse (5×5)	—	Personal 5×5 warehouse per player where copied shapes land and completed rows/columns are cleared.
Score Track	—	Linear track from 0 to 29 points.

Setup

• The 6×6 kiln is filled with all 36 coloured tiles (9 Red, 9 Blue, 9 Green, 9 Yellow).
• The neutral black tile starts on a random perimeter arrow slot (0–23).
• Each player controls one colour ( Red, Blue, Green, or Yellow) and an empty 5×5 warehouse.
• Starting player: For each colour, the largest orthogonally connected group in the kiln is identified. The owner of the smallest group among those starts the game.

Your turn

On your turn, execute the following phases in order:

1. Push tile into the kiln

• Take the current outer tile from its perimeter slot and place it onto any of the other 23 empty perimeter arrow slots.
• Push the tile into that row or column: all 6 tiles slide forward 1 space, and the tile at the far end is pushed out to become the next outer tile.

2. Copy largest shape to warehouse

• Find your largest orthogonally connected group of tiles of your colour in the kiln (diagonals do not connect; if tied, choose which one).
• Replicate that exact polyomino shape into empty cells of your 5×5 warehouse.
• Orientation: The shape cannot be rotated or flipped.
• If the shape cannot legally fit into your warehouse:
  • With Fixing the Mess (default): you may erase 1 painted cell in your warehouse to make room, or skip placement.
  • Without Fixing the Mess: you skip placement this turn.

3. Sell completed rows or columns (optional)

• If you have completely filled rows or columns (5 tiles across), you may sell them for points:

Full lines sold	1 line	2 lines	3 lines	4 lines	5 lines
Points earned	1 pt	3 pts	6 pts	10 pts	15 pts

• You may sell either rows OR columns in a single turn (no mixing).
• Sold tiles are cleared from your warehouse, opening space for future shapes.

4. Extra turns

• If the tile pushed out of the kiln was the neutral black tile , you immediately take a full extra turn.
• If Heating up the Kiln is enabled, landing exactly on bonus spaces 5, 8, 14, 17, 19, 23, or 26 also awards an extra turn.

End of the game

• The game ends immediately the moment any player reaches or exceeds the target winning score (default: 14 points).
• That player wins immediately!

Variants (table options)

• Target Winning Score (Option 100):
  • Short / Beginners Game (14 points) (default).
  • Standard Game (17 points).
  • Long Game (20 points).
  • Marathon Game (25 points).
• Heating up the Kiln (Bonus Spaces) (Option 101):
  • Disabled (Standard) (default): standard scoring track.
  • Enabled: landing exactly on track spaces 5, 8, 14, 17, 19, 23, or 26 awards an extra turn.
• Fixing the Mess (Option 102):
  • Enabled (Catch-up Rule) (default): if your largest shape cannot fit, erase 1 painted cell from your warehouse.
  • Disabled: standard rule (skip placement if shape does not fit).
• Starting Board Setup (Option 103):
  • Balanced Sector Placement (Recommended) (default): 2×2 sectors ensure fair initial distribution (max group size 2 for all colours).
  • Fully Random (Official Rules): all 36 tiles shuffled completely at random.

Controls on BGA

• Pushing: click any perimeter arrow around the kiln to stage where to push the outer tile. Click blue Push (or red Cancel).
• Tied groups: if tied, click Select Group [N] ([Size] tiles), or click Undo Push.
• Warehouse placement: click any highlighted square in your warehouse, then click blue Confirm placement (or red Undo Push).
• Fixing the mess: if your group cannot fit, click Fix the Mess and click 1 cell in your warehouse to erase it, or click Skip Placement.
• Selling: click the arrow next to a completed row or column on your warehouse to toggle selling it, then click Sell [N] Line(s) (+[Pts] pts), or click Pass (Keep Tiles) (or Confirm end of turn). Click Undo Move to revert.
• Tooltips: hover over perimeter arrows, the kiln grid, track legend, black tile badge, warehouses, and price tables.
• Preferences:
  • Colorblind support (Preference 100, default: Off): displays letter glyphs on tiles (Red: N, Blue: K, Green: I, Yellow: L).
  • Sound effects (Preference 101, default: On).
  • Confirm placement (Preference 102, default: Ask me first).
  • Tooltips (Preference 103, default: On).
  • Confirm end of turn (Preference 104, default: Ask me first): set to Off to auto-pass when no lines can be sold.